The Experience of Trauma in Isabel Allende’s In the Midst of Winter Anonymous College

Loss and suffering are painful yet they are part of our everyday experiences. The loss of loved ones, isolation from our family and friends, and suffering in the hands of gangs and authorities all encompass the tragic experiences we encounter on a daily basis. These challenges, while they seem ordinary, are often traumatizing in that they trigger disruptions in our psyche. This is clearly evident in Isabel Allende’s 23rd novel In the Midst of Winter, which tells the story of three loners –– Richard Bowmaster, Evelyn Ortega, and Lucia Maraz –– whose lives are trapped in different crises characterized by past struggles, present fears, and uncertain futures. While the experiences of the three characters are different, they intersect in unpredictable ways. In the novel In the Midst of Winter, Chilean-American novelist Isabel Allende explores how past struggles, violence, loss of loved ones, and immigration realities intersect to bring about trauma among the novel’s main characters at both the individual and global levels.

In the novel, each character encounters some traumatic experience with their past. Evelyn is an undocumented immigrant from Guatemala smuggled into the United States where she works as a nanny. While in Guatemala,...